South Park
South Park is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boys—Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormick—and their adventures in and around the titular Colorado town. South Park also features many recurring characters. The series became infamous for its profanity and dark, surreal humor that satirizes a large range of subject matter.
Parker and Stone developed South Park from two animated short films, both titled The Spirit of Christmas, released in 1992 and 1995. The second short became one of the first viral Internet videos, leading to the series' production. The pilot episode was produced using cutout animation; the remainder of the series uses computer animation based on the cutout technique. Since the fourth season, episodes have generally been written and produced during the week preceding their broadcast, with Parker serving as the lead writer and director.
Since its debut on August 13, 1997, 338 episodes of South Park have been broadcast. It debuted with great success, consistently earning the highest ratings of any basic cable program. Subsequent ratings have varied, but it remains one of Comedy Central's longest-running programs. In August 2021, South Park was renewed through 2027, and a series of television specials was announced for Paramount+, the first two of which were released later that year. In October 2019, it was announced that WarnerMedia had acquired exclusive streaming rights to South Park starting in June 2020 for HBO Max. After the HBO Max deal expired in late June 2025, on July 21, 2025, Parker and Stone announced a five-year agreement with Paramount+ to stream the series exclusively and to have 10 episodes produced per year. The twenty-eighth season premiered on October 16, 2025.
South Park has received critical acclaim, and is included in various publications' lists of the greatest television shows. It has received numerous accolades, including five Primetime Emmy Awards and a Peabody Award. A theatrical film, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, was released in June 1999 to commercial and critical success, garnering an Academy Award nomination. In 2013, TV Guide ranked South Park the tenth Greatest TV Cartoon of All Time.
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